Song of the Bandits drops first stills depicting Kim Nam Gil in a stunning new light

Kim Nam-gil will feature in Song of The Bandits (image via ELLE Korea)
Kim Nam-gil will feature in Song of The Bandits (image via ELLE Korea)

The much-awaited K-drama Song of the Bandits has offered a peek into the story it is set to chronicle. On January 18, the show released its first still featuring Kim Nam-gil, who dons the somber role of a formidable gangster with a tragic past.

The picture depicts Kim Nam-gil aiming at an unseen target with a shotgun pistol. The still exudes a tense atmosphere, and the piercing gaze of the Fiery Priest actor has managed to pique fans' interests regarding the situation he is in.

Song of the Bandits is a Netflix original historic action-thriller K-drama. The show is set in 1920s in the backdrop of the oppressive Japanese occupation of Korea, during which the inhabitants of Joseon were uprooted from their homes and deported to Japan by the tyrannical colonizers.

The upcoming show will narrate the story of the people who rebelled against the oppressive regime and fought fierce battles against the enormously powerful colonizers to protect their homeland, family, and community. The history of failure will be transformed into tales of overlooked victories via the fictional characters of the show.


More about the cast and characters of Song of The Bandits

Viewers are eagerly awaiting Netflix’s Song of the Bandits as expectations are high from the star-studded cast of the production. Leading the cast is Kim Nam-gil, who became an international sensation following his stunning performance in the recent blockbuster K-drama Through the Darkness.

Kim Nam-gil will play the part of Lee Yoon, a slave who fails to acquire any knowledge and is never given a chance to do so either. Even after he is elevated to the status of a free man and the class structure is overthrown, he is unable to overcome his slave mentality.

Lee Yoon's previous master encourages him to join the military, so he does as he is instructed and eventually finds himself deeply involved in a war that he did not intend to be a part of initially.

Starring opposite the actor is Girl Generation’s Seohyun, who will portray the character of Nam Hee-shin, a bureaucrat who heads the railway bureau of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. However, her real identity is entirely different, and remains a secret that is yet to come to light.

Meanwhile, Reply 1988’s star Yoo Jae-myung will don the role of Choi Chung-soo, a freedom fighter deeply embroiled in the independence struggle. Choi Chung-soo is also a landowner of Korean villages in the border region of Gando.

After delivering gripping action and drama with their past projects, including Bad Guys: Vile City and Squad 38, writer Han Jung-hoon and director Hwang Jun-hyuk reunite for Song of the Bandits.


The fact that the K-drama will be focusing on the theme of the Korean independence struggle, in addition to having an exorbitant anticipated production cost of 30 billion won (about $25 million), has already garnered a significant amount of interest.

Song of the Bandits will premiere in the latter half of the year.

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